Trevor Mallard couldn't plan a party in a brewery. Two articles from the Fairfax stable make this clear:

• Bulging school rolls prompt plea for help
• Plugging the secondary gaps (Dominion Post, Friday, January 30)

The second article points out that "for the third year in a row, secondary schools have begun the year with ... not enough teachers". Remember, this is a Minister who has made presentations showing that between the years of 2001 and 2007, the number of senior school pupils will swell by 35,000. I wrote about this in "Are we stupid, or what?".

In short, while Trevor Mallard quacks on about school rolls possibly declining in 21 years time, and building "sustainable networks", both he and his Education Ministry are not coping with roll growth that they have known about for the last several years.

A disgrace! If they can't master the basics of manageing existing rolls, how in tarnation's name can we trust their long term planning?

9:28:34 PM